This has been a weird, weird season. The second bye week and the way conferences have tried to backload schedules mean that very few teams in power conferences have a lot of losses. Also, we don’t really have any conferences where the top two teams have enough wins to lock most teams out of conference championship games. Since a team is basically not eliminated as long as it’s alive in its conference race, that means there are lots of teams almost guaranteed to not make the Playoff that we can’t eliminate yet.
That’s about to change, though. The ACC will likely have two six-win teams after this week, which means we can eliminate everyone with three conference losses (finally). The same is true of the SEC. Assuming all of Indiana, Ohio State, and Michigan win this week, we can eliminate most of the Big Ten. The Big 12 will probably take another week to get to that point.
The point is that while there are still 69 teams technically “alive” in the Playoff race, we’ll get down to a reasonable number starting next week. And two weeks from now we should be down to our usual 25 or so that remain alive at that point in the season.
First, let’s give a quick table of the teams still alive in the Playoff race. (Of the two independents and two Pac 12 teams, only Notre Dame is still in contention.)
| American | Army, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Memphis, Navy, North Texas, |
| ACC | Cal, |
| Big Ten | Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, |
| Big 12 | Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, |
| Conference-USA | Kennesaw State, Western Kentucky |
| MAC | None |
| Mountain West | Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah State |
| SEC | Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt |
| Sun Belt | James Madison, Southern Miss, |
Remember, I don’t predict the outcomes of games here. I have one rule for how I eliminate a team. I ask: Does this team have a chance to reach the Playoff if it wins out? If the answer is maybe or yes, then that team isn’t eliminated. If the answer is no, then it makes the list.
In addition to this weekly article, I will be counting down the teams in this thread on X (formerly Twitter). I will also have a second thread detailing which teams (using the same principles) are out of contention for the seven at-large spots.
Week 10 College Football Playoff Eliminator
76 teams entered Week 10 with a chance of making the College Football Playoff if they win out. We eliminated seven more in Week 10, leaving 69 still in contention.
| Central Florida | Eliminated from Big 12 race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Clemson | Eliminated from ACC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Iowa State | Eliminated from Big 12 race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Maryland | Eliminated from Big Ten race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Rice | Eliminated from AAC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Stanford | Eliminated from ACC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Troy | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
Previous Weeks
| Arkansas | Eliminated from SEC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Auburn | Eliminated from SEC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Boston College | Eliminated from ACC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Colorado | Eliminated from Big 12 race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Florida State | Eliminated from ACC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Kentucky | Eliminated from SEC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Louisiana Tech | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Michigan State | Eliminated from Big Ten race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Mississippi State | Eliminated from SEC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Penn State | Eliminated from Big Ten race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Purdue | Eliminated from Big Ten race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Rutgers | Eliminated from Big Ten race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| South Carolina | Eliminated from SEC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Syracuse | Eliminated from ACC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Tulsa | Eliminated from AAC race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| West Virginia | Eliminated from Big 12 race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Wisconsin | Eliminated from Big Ten race, insufficient resume for at-large bid |
| Appalachian State | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Charlotte | Six losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| New Mexico State | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Oklahoma State | Six losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Old Dominion | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| San Jose State | Five losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Wyoming | Four losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Louisiana-Monroe | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Marshall | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Miami (OH) | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Ohio | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Texas State | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Toledo | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Air Force | Four losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Coastal Carolina | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Colorado State | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Florida International | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
Week 5:
| Arkansas State | Four losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Bowling Green | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Buffalo | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Georgia Southern | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Jacksonville State | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Northern Illinois | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| South Alabama | Four losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| UTEP | Four losses, not enough resume quality potential to be top-five conference champion |
Week 4:
| Ball State | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be top-five conference champion |
| Georgia State | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Kent State | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Liberty | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Louisiana | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Nevada | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Sam Houston | Four losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Washington State | Two bad losses, not eligible for conference champion bid |
Week 3:
| Central Michigan | Two bad losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Eastern Michigan | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
| Massachusetts | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be top-five conference champion |
| Oregon State | Three losses, not eligible for conference champion bid |
| Western Michigan | Three losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
Week 2:
| UConn | Two losses, not in a conference |
| Middle Tennessee | Two bad losses, not enough resume quality potential to be a top-five conference champion |
Week 1:
| Delaware | Not bowl eligible this season |
| Missouri State | Not bowl eligible this season |
| Akron | Not bowl eligible this season |
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: College Football Playoff eliminator after Week 10
